In semi-retirement, eminent Dorchester-born surgeon Sir Frederick Treves (1853-1923) cycled the same country lanes explored on this delightful walk. In his, increasingly hard to find, 1906 publication Highways and Byways in Dorset, he said of the magnificent views north from Ibberton Hill over Ibberton village: ‘If the sea could reach it there would be found, in the place of the village, a sheltered cove in an amphitheatre of hills’.
Below Ibberton Hill at 840ft above sea level, Belchalwell Church stands on a knoll at 400ft and Ibberton Church on a ‘shelf’ at 330ft. In her 2004 book Blackmore Vale, Stalbridge-born author Hilary Townsend wrote: ‘You need to be fit to make the steep climb up to Ibberton Church by either a steep rutted lane or a flight of old mossy stone steps’. Well, we’ve cracked it. We’re walking down to the church from 500ft above it, and there are lovely field paths and country lanes with stunning views to follow on this delightful but challenging summer ramble.
The Walk
1. Cross the road to the two-way bridleway-post’s sheltered half-gate. Through, walk diagonally left down the slope, skirting below the oak clump, to hedge’s bridleway half-gate. Don’t go through. Double back right and follow the path along the slopes with Duncliffe Hill distantly ahead (where you started is up to your right). Through an old hedge-bank, follow the path down with the trees on your left, past electric stanchion PZB113, then through trees and fenced to the bridleway-signed half-gate. Through onto the sunken and tree-covered lane, cross into the ‘Halter Path to Ibberton’ path.
2. Still descending the wooded slope on chalk and flint, St Eustace’s Church stands on a shelf cut into the hillside over left flint wall. Hilary Townsend described this church as ‘feeling of great age and peace’; there’s no stained glass in it except for Elizabeth I’s coat-of-arms. Go down Hilary’s ‘rutted lane or mossy steps’ join the track passing between Church Farm Cottage right and Church Farm House left with restored barns both sides. Past right Manor House Farm, the thatched 17th-century cottage left and the 1884 Methodist Chapel right, continue down the lane and past left the village inn The Ibberton formerly two 19th-century cottages. Down to the road with Cross Cottage opposite the ‘Ibberton’ finial junction, go right for ‘Okeford Fitzpaine’. Before right bend, take left Belflyn Stables lane with Old Farmhouse on corner.
3. Past left Manor Farm Cottage and a footpath-gate, continue around the right bend, past the left stables, and along ‘The Haybarn’ track to facing 1½ footpath-gates. Through into the field, follow right trees/fence to the hiding footpath half-gate and footbridge over the clear stream (from springs below Ibberton Hill). Over, follow the path through trees between fields to the exit half-gate into a sloping field. Walk straight across to the fence’s kissing-gate well left of the clay-tiled cottage. Through, follow the mown-grass right, with ditch left, to lawn and gate. Through, between the left chapel and right brick-barn, reach the lane. Turn left. Past left Berwick House, reach ‘Leigh Cross’ finial crossing.
4. Cross into the signed, tree-shaded cul-de-sac Leigh Lane. Pass left Little Marsh and continue past, right Leigh Lodge and a thatched cottage. At facing 1½ footpath and bridleway gates, go through into the large field. Follow the right hedge/trees to the hedge’s sleeper-bridge and the first stile today. Over, with Belchalwell’s Church tower ahead, keep along the right hedge to the corner gateway. Through, go left following the grassy track alongside the concrete track. See the hills right where you will ascend later. Through the end bridleway-gate, continue to the facing gate before right barns. Through the cantilever-latch gates, keep to farm track, through any gateways into the concrete yard. Notice says footpath through is marked with a yellow line (it isn’t!) just keep on through, past the right farmhouse to join the tarmac lane between two ponds.
5. Continue up hedged lane to the road-bend T-junction. Turn left past Bellease Farm and right at Old Rectory. At the left bend, take the right drive ‘To The Church’, up past, left Saints Hill and right Church Walk Cottage. Approaching St Aldhelm’s Church, notice right footpath-gate. This is the gate* for after your visit. Perched on a knoll with lovely views through the trees, St Aldhelm’s dates from 1190AD with the chancel and the unusually placed south tower added in the 15th century. The ‘chevron and dog-tooth’ carved doorway inside the porch is late-Norman. Formerly its own parish, Belchalwell is now in Okeford Fitzpaine parish. Leave through the previously mentioned footpath-gate* into the field, walk along the left hedge. When it ends, bear ¼-right, passing well clear of the flag-pole base, go down (over an electric fence if still there) to the nick-point in the bottom hedge.
6. Here, at a sleeper and footpath half-gate, go through into the field. Facing Bell Hill ahead, follow the right hedge down, round to the right then left in the corner to the road-gate. Through, cross the road to the two-way footpath-stile into trees. Over, follow the right trees, ditch, fence, lawn, ditch-sleepers, fence and gap to the footpath-stile. Over into Belchalwell Street, turn right along the lane but, instantly, take the left footpath-gate into field corner. Walk up to top corner gateway. Through into rising field, walk right-left up against the fence up to top-right corner stile. Over this, go left onto clear path up past a chalk-slip on the wide shelf. The path gets ever steeper along the left fence, heading north, with Belchalwell Street below. Keep ascending the green path clockwise, soon with Okeford Fitzpaine and Shillingstone down to your left with Alfred’s Tower at Stourhead further distant. Up into open ground, keep on up, south, through gorse patches but still on green path to two-way footpath fence-stile.
7. Over, the arrow points half-right, diagonally over the field to the top footpath-stile onto the Wessex Ridgeway track. Correct if the field isn’t planted. If it is, go right, south-west, along the field’s right fence to the far corner, then left, south-east, up the used path between fields to the same top footpath-stile onto the Wessex Ridgeway track, signed back ‘Bell Hill ¼’. Turn right for ‘Bulbarrow Hill 3¾’ along one mile of track, ignoring all turnings off and passing a left footpath at a telecom mast. Continue, down at last, to Bulbarrow Road, signed back ‘Okeford Hill 1¾’. Turn left, hedged and with the Isle of Wight to the left in the far distance. Past the right Ibberton turning and left three-way bridleway sign, start rising again after right Bakers Folly. Under overhead cables, fork left through the cantilevered footpath-gate signed ‘South Down 1’. Rising against the left hedge, follow the grass track back to Ibberton Hill car park where you started.
Compass Points
Distance: 5¼ miles/ 8.25 km
Time: 4 hours
Start: Ibberton Hill parking area between iron posts at four-way bridleway signpost (Grid Ref: ST792071)
Exertion: Fairly strenuous return ascent up Bell Hill
Map: OS Landranger Sheet 194
Public Transport: Nothing nearby
Dogs: On leads where there is livestock or as requested, abide by The Countryside Code
Refreshments: The Ibberton in Ibberton or The Royal Oak, Okeford Fitzpaine for excellent food and local beers
